Concluding Thoughts: A Few Years Later

When we published a similar article based on the original BioShock, we found that few graphics cards at the time could provide playable performance using the high quality preset at 1600x1200 (1680x1050 is the widescreen version of this resolution).

In fact, mid-range and even some high-end graphics cards of the time, like the GeForce 8800 GTS and Radeon Hard disk X1950 XT struggled at 1600x1200 with average frame rates dipping below 40fps. Therefore we ended that if you were not too picky about functioning, y'all could go abroad with a GeForce 8600 GTS using depression settings at resolutions at or below 1280x1024.

We went on to say that unfortunately Bioshock didn't seem to be the same game when using depression graphics settings and nosotros get the aforementioned impression with this sequel. As far as graphics are concerned, BioShock 2 is very reminiscent of the original and we had a difficult time telling the two apart. While some may notice this disappointing, it is largely good news for gamers on a budget, particularly those who cannot afford to blow $300+ on a graphics bill of fare.

Gamers using a 22" LCD screen will be set up with an affordable graphics cards such as the Radeon HD 5750. Some may fifty-fifty find the Radeon Hard disk drive 4770 acceptable.

Those with 24" screens will find the Radeon HD 5770 to take plenty guts to play BioShock 2 at 1920x1200 using the high quality preset. If y'all haven't upgraded for a while and all the same run on a GeForce GTX 275 or Radeon Hd 4890-level graphics bill of fare then you are well by the requirement to run this game with all eye candy turned on.

Having now thoroughly tested BioShock 2 using a pocket-sized army of graphics cards, we can safely say that gamers should only aim to play this game using the high quality preset. Non only did we see a significant reduction in visual quality when using the medium quality preset, merely the performance was not greatly improved.

The Radeon Hd 5750 saw its average frame rate increase past viii.5%, a mere 6 fps gain, while the minimum frame rate was increased past just a single frame. Slower graphics cards, such as the GeForce 9600 GT, also saw small gains, with the average increasing past 9% which worked out to be a dismal four extra frames per second. These small performance gains but don't justify the noticeable reduction in visual quality.

In terms of stability BioShock ii did have its fair share of abrasive bugs and while some of them could be blamed on graphics card drivers, we were nonetheless disappointed. The game also has an abrasive level of anti-piracy measures, but as the original did. Information technology's this kind of features that put me off buying such games. The multiplayer aspect is like to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare two in the sense that you take to be continued to the Cyberspace to play over LAN, and that is just rubbish in my opinion.

Nonetheless my personal feelings aside, the problems that we encountered when testing BioShock 2 included visual errors with vsync disabled, occasional crashing when using Crossfire, and the inability to alter resolution without having to offset ALT+TAB out of the game. Really the issue with changing the resolution was again only limited to ATI graphics cards, though once or twice the issue presented itself when using Nvidia hardware.

What we were forced to do every fourth dimension nosotros wanted to change the resolution was to select the desired setting and click utilise. The screen would then get bare and remain that manner indefinitely unless nosotros quickly hit ALT+TAB taking u.s.a. to the desktop and and so hit ALT+TAB again to re-enter the game. This had to exist done within the 15 second inaugural or the resolution would revert back to its previous setting.

This made benchmarking quite painful as you can imagine, having now done this well over a hundred times. The slider bar used to select the resolution is likewise very clumsy, while on the positive side we liked the menus in BioShock two as they were quick and easy to navigate. Thankfully this is likely a task that many of yous volition only do on rare occasions.

Finally, the but other asking I take for my own benefit, and of course those interested in testing their organisation's performance, would exist for 2K Games to include a built-in benchmark feature to help gamers accurately measure the touch various visual quality settings have on performance.